By Satur C. Ocampo At Ground Level | The Philippine Star As expected, President Aquino and his economic team wax euphoric over the official report that the national economy expanded by 6.6% in 2012, from 3.9% growth rate in 2011. “It is a resounding affirmation of the Aquino administration’s fiscal strategy, backed as it is…
Tags: International Monetary Fund
The End of the End of Austerity We’re All Greeks Now
By ROB URIE counterpunch.org One of the joys of being American is that every new day is a clean slate—no history, no memories, no experiences, a complete blank. This may help explain why our national conversations serve their intended purposes while being entirely content-free. Newsflash to self-described liberal economists: austerity works! If your goal is…
Can Treasury Sneak IMF Money Through the Supplemental?
By ROBERT NAIMAN International Posted by Bulatlat Almost completely lost in the drama over the war supplemental for Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan is a sneaky play by the US Treasury Department to get $108 billion in tax dollars for the International Monetary Fund through the supplemental. Of course, if Treasury can get the money through…
The Need for Workers’ Struggles
The world has once again celebrated International Labor Day this May 1st. This year’s May 1 celebration has assumed greater significance as the world economic crisis wreaks havoc on people’s lives especially the working class. Workers all over the world have been losing their jobs. What should workers do to address their worsening situation? Should…
Militant Groups Call for Price Control, Policy Reforms to Solve Price Spikes
The militant group Bayan rejected calls from government to give emergency powers to President Arroyo but recognizes the need for the government to control the prices of commodities. This call was echoed by the women’s group GABRIELA who called the current situation of run-away increases in the prices of food and other basic commodities as…